I'll Be Right There One Step After
by GentleRed
Summary: What if, What if Norma Bates returned home ten minutes later in the season 2 finale? What would happen if she came too late to save her son?


I'll be right there one step after you...

Norma Bates had always had an excellent sense of what was going on, especially when it came to her son. So when she entered the house after talking to Dylan, she could just feel that something was wrong.

,,Norman, i'm home," she called.

No answer.

That was unsual. Norman _always_ responded when she said something. Something was definitely not right, of course he could have fallen asleep, heavens know he needed sleep after being trapped in that box, but Norma knew he didn't sleep very good when she wasn't home, so something was up.

Maybe he was in the basement, working on some new animal? Norma quickly went downstairs to check.

No. There was no sign of her son in the basement. In fact there was nothing in the basement. All of his taxidermy stuff was gone. There was no animals either.

Norma found it highly unlikely that her son had grown tired of taxidermy, that was one of the few things he really enjoyed and took pride in, even though Norma didn't really care much for it. So the fact that all of it had been packed away, made Norma's hunch of something being wrong even stronger.

She quickly went upstairs and pushed his bedroom door open.

,,Norman?" she said as she popped her head inside his room.

No answer. He wasn't there either, and the entire bedroom had been cleaned up. Norman had always been very tidy, but this was something else. It was almost like... He had never been in that room in the first place.

A stuffed bird and a white envelope quickly caught Norma's eye. As she approached his bed she could see there was written "Mother" on the envelope, so she quickly grabbed it and ripped it open. There was a little note inside and she folded it out with shaking hands and read it:

" _Mother,_

 _I made this little bird for you. I will always love you and we will always be part of each other._

 _-Norman"_

For a brief second Norma's vision went completely black as it began to dawn on her, just what her son had planned.

Still holding on the note, she rushed down to the motel where she nearly crashed into a bemused Emma.

,,Have you seen Norman today?" she asked gasping for air.

,,I have actually," said Emma. ,,He said he wanted to go for a walk in the woods."

,,How long ago?"

,,Ten minutes before your car pulled up."

Norma spun around and sprinted towards the wood without giving a second glance to Emma.

,,Is something wrong?" she heard Emma shout after her, but she didn't have time to answer her.

"Damn right, something is wrong," Norma thought to herself, ignoring the honking cars as she crossed the road. Ten minutes wasn't that long, he couldn't have gone far. There was still time to reach him.

As she reached the wood she stopped and listened for a second. Silence. Complete silence. She couldn't hear a sound. Unbelieveable. She could _always_ hear her son, why was that different today?

,,Norman?!" she shouted as she sped up from a walk to a sprint again.

,,Norman, answer me! Where are you?!"

She waited. Nothing. Silence. But then the sharp, terrible sound of a gun being fired filled her ears, and a couple of birds flew away from the center of the forest.

,,NO!" she yelled. She ran faster than she ever had before. She barely sensed where she was, and completely ignored the sharp pain in her ankle when she tripped over a root. Finally she made it to the center of the forest.

Norman was lying on the ground, facing the sky. He was ghostly pale, his eyes were closed, and a shocking amount of blood was pooling by his head.

For a second Norma couldn't comprehend what she was seeing. This couldn't be happening. This had to be a dream, a terrible dream. But deep down she knew this wasn't a dream. This was reality. Her son. Her beautiful son. Her sweet and innocent Norman who never meant to hurt anyone in his entire life was lying lifeless on the ground.

She wrapped her fingers around his wrist, still hoping for the smallest chance that she could still save him, but there was no pulse.

,,Oh my god, oh my god," Norma sobbed. She fell to knees and crawled over to her lifeless son. She pulled his head into her lap and craddled it like she had done a hundreth times before.

,,Oh god, oh god, baby what have you done? What have you done?" She remembered the pain when Sam had hurted her over and over again. She remembered the pain when Keith Summers had taken her by force, she remembered the pain when Zach Shelby had hit her, and she remembered the pain when she found out that Norman had been abducted by Nick Ford. But this, this was far worse than anything else. She was willing to spend her entire life in a violent relationship with Sam, she was willing to endour the pain of being raped by Keith Summers a million times, and she was willing to being slapped every day for the rest of her life by Zach Shelby, if it meant Norman would be alive.

,,Why did you have to do this, baby? Oh god, Norman why? I would have helped you. Why did you leave me? Why?!" the last "why" came out as a scream. Norma buried her face in her sons hair and sobbed. It felt like she was dying pshycially herself. Her entire body hurted and it felt like she was both drowning an burning up from the inside.

Without removing his head from her lap she took his hand in hers, it was so cold, and Norma shuddered as she brough his limb hand to her cheek in an attempt to be close to him.

,,How could you leave me? We're like the same person. We belong together, we're supposed to be together," she let go of his hand and kissed his forehead and his cheek in one last, desperate attempt to be close to him.

But... What if it did'nt _have_ to be the last time she could be close to Norman? What if there was a way for her to see him again, even if it was drastic and would affect other people too?

The gun was lying closely to Norman's body and Norma grabbed it. She could see that it was still possible to shoot with it. She twirled it between her fingers. Wasn't that really the answer to everything? Just a small movement. One finger on the trigger and she would be with Norman again. Despite everything that had happened to her through out the years, Norma had never once considered suicide. Norman had kept her going. But now that he was gone, it seemed... Almost natural, and for a brief second Norma was shocked about herself. How can you go from enjoying life to calmly thinking about suicide? Norma answered the question herself. Norman was her entire life, they really were like the same person, she hadn't just lost her son, she had lost a huge part of herself. And the only way of stopping the burning flames inside her was by ending her life. She looked around. It truly was a beautiful place Norman had picked. Tall trees around them. Green grass. She could hear water. Maybe there was a stream nearby somewhere. A beautiful place to die. Norma grabbed Norman's lifeless body by the arms and dragged it over to one of the trees. Then she took the gun and placed it on the ground next to Norman. She sat down, leaning comfortably against the tree. She gently placed Norman's head in her lap again and took the gun. She placed it against her temple and closed her eyes. The image of Dylan flashed before her closed eyes, and she thought about what this would to do him.

,,I'm so sorry Dylan. I really am. But I can't live without him. He was, he _is_ my entire life. I am nothing without him. Nothing. I have to be with him."

The image of Emma flashed before her inner eye. God, how she loved that girl, she had almost become a daughter to Norma, and she knew that she was hopelessly in love with Norman. This would crush her. After all, Emma would be the last person to have seen both Norman and Norma alive.

,,You couldn't have saved us, Emma." Norma whispered to the silenced forest. ,,It was already too late when Norman went into the forest."

In fact, Norma thought to herself. It had been too late for a while. The second it became too late, was the moment when Norman swung that blender into Sams head and Norma covered up the "accident". Had she only told the truth so Norman could have gotten help in time.

,,Not long now honey," she whispered. ,,In a moment I will be with you, we will be together forever, and everything will be okay, I promise."

It wasn't herself Norma was trying to calm. It was Norman. She was absolutely posetive he could hear her and was afraid and alone. She was a mother, it was job to calm him.

She closed her eyes again and was surprised that the last person to flash before her eyes was sheriff Alex Romero. They had got off to a rather nasty start, but now, in her last moments, she was finally willing to admit that if things had been different, she might have thought about him differently. But it was all useless now. She couldn't imagine "getting on with her life" without Norman. There was no life for her without him.

She pressed another kiss to Norman's cold forehead. ,,I'll see you soon," Norma whispered. She wasn't afraid. She knew that they would see each other again soon. In a way it was for the better. Norman had alway been too good for this world, and this world had never treated Norma very good. The next world was bound to be better for them.

With that thought in mind Norma laced her fingers into Norman's. Her other hand was still holding the gun pressed into her temple. With fingers that didn't even shake once she pulled the trigger..

It didn't even take a second. It was completely painless, and easier than falling asleep at night. When Norma Bates opened her eyes again, and regained sense and control over her body again, the first thing she felt was a pair of arms around her body holding her. She looked up and looked directly in his eyes, sometimes blue, but in a different light a perfect mixture of green and grey.

,,Norman," she whispered as it began to dawn on her. He was here. She was here. They were together.

But Norman looked less than pleased.

,,Oh mother," he said and put his hands on her shoulders. ,,Why did you do that?"

,,Why did _I_ do it?! Why did _you_ do it?!"

,,You already know why I did it, Mother." said Norman and looked down.

,,Yes I do, but none of that matter now, honey," Norma gently cupped Norman's face.

,,I never wished for this to happen. I never meant to end your life too."

,,Oh, Norman, did you really think it was a choice to make? We're the same person, kill one of us and you kill us both."

,,I've murdered you too, then." Norman mumbled, tears threathening to fall from his eyes.

Norma shook her head and locked her hands behind his head, drawing him closer so she could press their foreheads together. She needed him to understand.

,,No honey," she whispered. ,,That wasn't what I meant..." she grasped for the right words. ,,I... I don't ever want to live in a world without you. I couldn't. I was impossible. I would never be a real person again. You understand that, don't you?"

,,I do, mother. I was almost physically impossible for me to leave you, but I couldn't live in a world where I would be afraid to hurt people all the time."

,,I know, sweetheart. But your blackouts are over now. You know that, right?"

,,I know, Mother."

,,And we're together know. That's the only thing that matters. That's the only thing that's real."

,,I love you, mother," said Norman and buried his face in the crook of his mothers neck.

,,I love you too, Norman, always." said Norma and kissed his cheek. Then she wrapped her arms around her son and pulled him closer in the tighest embrace. They were finally together, they had nothing more to fear, and nothing or no one could ever seperate them again.

When neither Norma or Norman had returned home from the woods a couple of hours later, Emma grew concerned and alarmed sheriff Romero. Romero, concerned that Norma and Norman might have fled the country because of the forth coming polygraph test, organised a search party after mother and son, and not long after, the pair was found in the woods. Norma, leaning against the tree, blood covering the back of her head and with her fingers intwined with Norman's. Norman, almost looking like he was asleep with his head resting in his mothers lap, but deadly pale. They were pronounced dead at the scene, and Romero quickly pieced together what hap happened when he found the note in Norma's hand: Norma had found the note and rushed after her son into the woods to prevent him from harming himself, but had arrived to late. Unable to live on without her beloved son, she shot herself, dying instantly.

Dylan and Emma was informed, and Emma was so shocked that her father had to rush her to the hospital to get treated for shock. Dylan had been surprisingly calm, but Romero suspected that he was trying to cover up how shocked he was. Blaire Watson was never mentioned but Romero decided to release the man in prison the next day. It was likely that Norman was the real killer of Blaire Watson.

A lot of decisions about the funeral followed. Dylan quickly decided that Norma and Norman would be sharing a coffin. If people thought oddly about that, it was because they hadn't known Norma and Norman. They hadn't known just how close mother of son had been. It was only fitting that their final resting place would be shared.

The funeral was held a few weeks later. Not many people had attented. Despite owning a motel, Norma hadn't really been a familiar face in White Pine Bay. But it did soften the blow a bit that a few of Norman's classmates showed up. Even Bradley Martin, the girl Norman helped dissapear, showed up in disguise, sobbing silently.

The weeks after the funeral was a bit of a blur. And Dylan had hesitated to visit the grave, but today he had too, he needed to see the new tombstone that had arrived the same morning.

He quickly reached the cementery and found the stone. It was actually a really beautiful tombstone. It was some shade of cream with golden letters. He quickly read the inscription. The names on the stone practically attacked his eyes. " **Norma Louise Bates** " and put directly under it " **Norman Bates** " followed by their birth date and date of death.

,,I uh, I never knew Norma's middle name was Louise." a voice said.

Dylan looked up. ,,Hey Emma."

,,Hey. How are you holding up? No wait. Forget I asked you that. It was a stupid question."

,,No it wasn't. And I am doing okay. It's actually comforting to know that they are together."

,,They had a really strong bond," said Emma and kneeled down beside Dylan.

,,Yeah. Probably stronger than I will ever understand."

Emma nodded and brushed her brown hair away from her face. ,,What are you going to do now? Will you stay in White Pine Bay?"

,,I'm not sure yet." said Dylan. His first impulse had been to get the hell out of White Pine Bay and never look back, but now he wasn't so sure anymore. He had seen alot of Emma lately, he felt like she was one of the few people he could talk to about what had happened, she was the least crazy person he knew, and he had grown to care for her. Quite a lot actually.

,,I... I brought them some flowers. I know they don't get much joy from them now, but Norma loved flowers and..." Emma ran out of words and sniffled.

,,I'm sure she would have appreciated them," said Dylan and wrapped an arm around Emma.

,,I see you picked an inscription for them as well."

,,Yeah I did. I know you are supposed to pick something like "peace" or "farewell" or something, but this just seemed fitting for them, don't you think?"

,,It's _perfect_ ," Emma whispered and wiped a tear away from her cheek.

Dylan took her hand as they leaned closer together to read the inscription on the bottom on the tombstone:

" _Norma and Norman,_

 _Together Forever"_

 **The End..**


End file.
